In software development, specifically relational database applications, maintaining a relational database schema through multiple releases of the database can be very cumbersome.
When a new version of a database is developed, prior to release of the database, an installation file associated with the new version must be created, which, when executed, will install from scratch, the new version of the database. In addition to an installation file, an upgrade file must be created that, when executed, will upgrade a previous version of the database to the new version of the database. Even more complicated is a scenario in which more than one previous version of the database exists. In this case, a different upgrade file is required to upgrade from each previous version of the database to the current version of the database. Furthermore, each installation file and upgrade file must be tested to insure that they all result in the same database structure.
Database installation files and upgrade files are typically generated manually by a database developer who is familiar with the intricacies of the database schema. This is a very time-consuming and error-prone method.
Accordingly, a need exists for a technique that enables automated generation of relational database installation and upgrade files.